Email Threats !

Do emails bring you Threats?

In this blog I'll be discussing about some of the major threats when using the most widely used communication service on the internet:Email

According to many experts there are few threats that mostly worry Email users consequently.Some of them are,

(1)Hoaxes – fake news sent by email

Probably the first type has to do with hoaxes – false news distributed for different purposes, mainly through email (or social network messages), with misleading content, and which use shocking or sensational topics for propagation. Users normally forward these pieces of news because they either appear to come from a trusted source or because the message itself asks to be forwarded. Initiators are basically victims of this kind of attack! To read more on this topic click here .

(2)Spam – massive, anonymous and unwanted messages  

 With so many threats collecting email accounts, this information began to be used to massively send spam or trash email by an unknown sender. Spam is generally used to send advertising, although it is also used to spread malicious codes, scams or phishing campaigns. Anyone can be fooled by this type of attack.

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(3)Phishing 

Together with spam, phishing is another threat that continually spreads via email. It is closely related to the use of social engineering techniques, where individuals are manipulated into performing actions they had not intended to conduct, for a particular purpose. Thus, this deception technique intends to fraudulently collect the victim’s personal and/or confidential information, such as internet service passwords, or credit and debit cards details.

Phishing attacks can lead to the user been fooled and him/her entering their personal information such as their Bank Account details.

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(4)Pharming

Pharming is a cyber attack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, fake site.The threat of Pharming is even dangerous when people with illegal intentions carry out Pharming on trusted and legitimate sites.

Fig 1:How to identify a Pharming attempt

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(5)Virus attacks

Viruses can easily be transferred from one computer to another through sending mails. This is the most common way used nowadays. They may come as an attachment along with the emails. It is a common opinion that all the spam mails are only virus infected, but it is not so. Even if you receive a mail in your inbox, it can contain virus in it. When you open and run the attached file, you are indirectly allowing the virus to into your computer system. This will slowly affect your hard drive and the entire system.

To read more on this topic click here

Fig 2: How to identify a Virus attack when using emails

Thanks for reading !🙂🙂